Australia’s left-wing Labor government has set a new record for welcoming immigration arrivals, with its open door policy delivering an unprecedented 105,460 net permanent and long-term arrivals landing in February, with 173,370 arriving over the quarter.
Over the year to February, there were 1,136,770 permanent and long-term arrivals into Australia, offset by 638,500 departures.
As a result, there were a record 498,270 net permanent and long-term arrivals into Australia over the year to February, the Australian reports.
Critics are quick to point out the massive inflow of arrivals is outpacing the construction of new homes at a rate of almost four to one, making it almost impossible for first-home buyers to access the market.
ABC News reported last month the national vacancy rate has hit a record low of 0.7 percent, according to figures it cited from Domain.
Record low vacancy rates are being driven by ongoing factors like rapid population growth and rising property prices, leaving more renters stuck in the rental market, the report notes.
Institute of Public Affairs deputy executive director Daniel Wild said the combination of record arrivals and low housing availability was a recipe for a housing crisis, the Daily Mail reports.
“Australia’s migration intake remains out of control, with promises to ‘normalise’ arrivals in tatters,” he said.
File/Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s left-wing Labor government is setting new records for immigration arrivals as the country struggles with a housing crisis and decaying social cohesion. (Photo by David Gray/Getty Images)
“Combined with plummeting housing construction approvals, Australia is being set up for a disaster.”
The national population growth pace of 2.5 percent, with births included, was the fastest since 1952, with Wild saying high immigration was locking Australians out of the housing market.
“The data proves that the federal government’s unplanned mass migration program is unsustainable,” he said.
The pressure of an immigrant flood into Australia alongside relentless cost-of-living pressure, rising interest rates, uncertainty about the direction of the economy under Labor and growing concern about inequality has undermined Australia’s sense of social cohesion, according to recent research.